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Early impressions...

Another defensive draft pick who is turning heads as mini-camp moves forward is linebacker Johnny Baldwin.

Baldwin didn’t attend the combine, which had many in the local media wondering who this kid was and how much Detroit knew about him when they selected him in the fifth round.

But the Lions knew plenty about the 6-2, 230-pound linebacker after one of their scouts brought him to their attention in the final weeks leading up to the draft.

Defensive Coordinator Joe Barry: “I give all the credit to our scouting department. Silas McKinnie found him. He was a guy that said: ‘I think we ought to look at this guy.’ We only had two tapes on him, only two game films. So we watched that and then after watching those two games, we figured we better do our homework on this kid.

What gives Baldwin that chance are his intangibles. His size and speed make him a valuable commodity … what he doesn’t know he can learn.

Barry on Baldwin: “(He has) athleticism; he has the ability to bend; he can redirect. He’s a 230 pound man that really can run. Now, he doesn’t know what the heck he’s doing, but as long as the guy has athleticism and has instincts, you can take him and you can teach him how to take on a blocker better.

“You can teach him how to drop better; you can teach him how to key better and what to look at. Vince Lombardi (couldn’t) teach a guy how to be faster. You’re either fast or you’re not fast, and he is.”

On a day where many of the rookies are gassed from the fast-paced, high-tempo practices Head Coach Rod Marinelli and his staff bring to the table, Alama-Francis was upbeat and looking as though he had yet to go through a workout … not as though he had already been through two NFL practices.